This invention is drawn to the field of vacuum cleaners, and more particularly, to a novel hand-held vacuum cleaner with interchangeable control panel module.
Hand-held vacuum cleaners may be variously configured from xe2x80x9cbasexe2x80x9d to xe2x80x9cdeluxexe2x80x9d models to provide a range of different features. For example, a minimum feature configuration to provide a base model hand-held vacuum cleaner may include a dust bowl, and a powered unit having a molded plastic housing to which a power xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9coffxe2x80x9d switch is mounted. With controlled application of power via the on/off power switch, solid and/or liquid foreign matter may be removed by such a base model hand-held vacuum cleaner.
When it is desirable to incorporate other features beyond those of such a base, or minimum feature configuration, model into a hand-held vacuum cleaner, it is the usual practice to design another hand-held vacuum cleaner model that includes the specific feature mix desired. Typically, this requires a redesign of the thermoplastic housing of the powered unit, with concomitant, often considerable, molding, tooling and other expenses associated with each model""s specifically different feature mix.
There is thus a need to provide a hand-held vacuum cleaner that can accommodate the feature mix of a wide line of product models, without requiring powered unit housing redesign to provide the feature mix of each given product model.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to disclose a hand-held vacuum cleaner with interchangeable control panel module that may be configured to provide the feature mix of a given product model without requiring redesign of the housing of the powered unit to accommodate the feature mixes of different product models.
In accordance therewith, the disclosed hand-held vacuum cleaner with interchangeable control panel module of the present invention includes a dust bowl removably attached to a powered unit. The powered unit includes a housing adapted to receive an interchangeable control panel module, and an interchangeable control panel module is received in said housing.
The interchangeable control panel module received in the housing of the powered unit in the presently preferred embodiment includes an exposed feature face aesthetically continuous with the housing of the powered unit that has at least one feature selected from the group of features including a power switch, a headlight and a bar graph charge indicator, and further includes a printed circuit board operatively coupled to the exposed feature face that is adapted for receipt within the housing of the powered unit. By configuring the interchangeable control panel module with a selected feature mix, and mounting the printed circuit board thereof into the housing of the same powered unit, the hand-held vacuum cleaners of the present invention provide the feature mix of a given product model without requiring redesign of the housing of the powered unit to accommodate the feature mixes of different product models.